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quarta-feira, 31 de outubro de 2012

Last year i did this and it was fun to do it. So i feel like it's almost becoming a tradition here in Forever Cursed and since there's plenty of death, gore and occult related music here at the Haxan's den, i decided to keep the flame alive. So here you go you maggots.

Download it. Play it loud. Fuck it... Enjoy. Track-list in the comments below.

And at least drop a fucking comment below, you dirty fat ass leeches!!

While Grue bring in their luggage four themes (which one counts as an interlude), Word of Unmaking bring us just one theme but a theme about 15 minutes long. I must say that at a first audition Grue's tracks didn't left me very fascinated, but the more i listen to the tracks the more they seemed to grow in me. My attention was absolutely focused on "Ascending the Necrolith" that revealed to be a great and solid track. The turn that this track takes around the mark of 2:50 is absolutely wonderful. Very epic, yet dramatic. It isn't a complex track, full of tricks and artifices. It's simple, effective and filled with an ambitious anger that suddenly turns into sorrow.

After this we get more of that melancholic feeling invading our soul with the interlude "Lament of the Spheres", where we can hear such instruments like a cello that really bring that gloomy atmosphere to this track. "In the House of Nemesis" and the ending track "Across Black Seas of Infinity" are other fine examples of what Grue are capable of. Grue's black metal finally convinced me. It's filled with real and honest emotions, charged with a raw anger that flow naturally to the surface of the skin.

On the other hand we have doom. Gloomy, cold and haunting doom. Word of Unmaking track, "Tombs Our Only Monuments" is full of a energy so negative that during those fifteen minutes that lasts this track, the only thoughts that cross our mind are only death, desolation and loneliness. Like a funeral march, this track takes us through the tortuous paths of doom metal. Slow decaying riffs meander through a sinister and misty voice that whispers among old tombstones. This track has a lot of changes over the last fifteen minutes that it lasts, having enough room for even that same cello lend an air of its grace. In the end it seemed to me that "Tombs Our Only Monuments" still has some loose ends to remedy, perhaps in a future record ... who knows. It started in a good way...

Two very opposite directions, yet nice proposals, in this independent/self release split tape ($5 shipped in the States, and/or downloadable for free from Bandcamp).

terça-feira, 23 de outubro de 2012

"Human Altars" is the first LP of Toronto's based black punk metal band Ride At Dawn. In this first full-length, Ride At Dawn presents us, i must say, a very well produced album. Distilling 10 songs of some dirty blackened punk in just 20 minutes, "Human Altars" appeared as a big surprise. I must confess it's one of the best albums in the genre i had the pleasure to hear this year. The catchy riffs of punk/hardcore layered with some dirty, raw and vicious black metal fit perfectly in this record. Great stuff. "Human Altars" cassette is available on Vomiting Leaves, version limited to 50. Buy it here. You won't regret it. Stream or download the LP below. Highly Recommended.

Ilmestys are a raw black metal band featuring Andy Stammers and Eric King from Column Of Heaven, ex Slaughter Strike, etc. This Demo introduces some really gnarly, raw-as-fuck black metal similar to Arts, Bone Awl, Grinning Death's Head. If you're into this faction of black metal, don't sleep on this one. Great Demo. Nevermind the quality of the files below (given by the band) just think it sounds more kvlt this way. Grab a copy here.

domingo, 21 de outubro de 2012

To all of you that have sent me emails to post/review your band, don't worry. I've been "cleaning" out my mailbox, so I'm checking the whole requests one by one. As you can probably imagine, some will please me, other won't. All of this to say that your request didn't fell into oblivion. I'll get there. Don't worry. Better late than never right?

Besides all of this, don't forget that Forever Cursed is a music sharing blog. My aim when i created the blog was/is to share music, so if you want a featured "review" on it but will not share your music (unless it's very cheap on Bandcamp for example), then I'm sorry but there are 1000 more blogs just around the corner where you can send your request to. At least specify this point when sending in the request.

quarta-feira, 17 de outubro de 2012

Behold! The open grave, the bells toll for you in the distance and the larvae whisper your name...

"The rotting stench of human decay prevails as deathly duo ENCOFFINATION returns with "Elegant Funerals For The Unknown Dead" - a brand new five-track EP that follows the trail of death travelled on 2011 full-length "O' Hell, Shine In Thy Whited Sepulchres". A suffocating, abysmal journey further downwards into the bottomless abyss, this guttural, lo-fi EP is certainly not for those fixated with crystalline productions and / or catchy hooks; to the contrary, it is crafted solely for those obsessed by death. Slow, tortured, decrepit extreme death / doom infused with sickness, this vinyl-only release crawls from the coffin with brooding, ominous intent. As funeral bells chime for the dearly departed, no living thing can withstand the relentless onslaught of death, the onset of decay, the insatiable call of the crypt. Death is an expression of human frailty in its purest form andENCOFFINATION personifies this lore of death - never more so than on "Elegant Funerals For The Unknown Dead"."

Masters of funeral death return with a new EP, "Elegant Funerals For The Unknown Dead". Already available on Debemur Morti Productions. Let death enter...

terça-feira, 16 de outubro de 2012

Ok, after the avalanche of requests i got from a few months back, i filtered some (sorry to the others and please don't send me psych/stoner/grunge stuff, seriously) and decided to create this mega post with some of the coolest bands, or at least i think they're worthy of attention, that crashed into my mailbox.

As described by themselves on their Facebook page, Wolves Carry My Name are a five-piece Sludge band from Siegen/Germany. Born in late 2011, this profane cult intends to set the world's decline to music by arranging furious, heart bending and manifold sound-scapes somewhere amongbrokenness, abomination and anger. The headstrong sound combines heavy Sludge/Stoner riffing with Ambient/Post-Rock elements, a slight Psychedelic/Blues touch and both desperate and hate driven vocals. Now, at a first glance, don't let the cover of this EP fool you, there's nothing about crusty and blackened hardcore here.

The first impression i got, and truth be said, these guys aren't reinventing the wheel here. With this release, we get a heavy dose of massive post metal with some stoner and post rock influences that will certainly please fans of bands as Tephra, Trenches, Isis or even Iron Monkey, for example. The "southern/stoner/rock/whatever" parts really bother me a bit since this formula has been more than used by bands of the genre along the years, but hey.. this is just me (please stop sending me stoner/psychedelic/fuzz/southern rock!). I'm more into the atmospheric stuff. Music for me must create atmosphere, create images in my mind either they maybe real or surreal. In overall, the production of "Amongst Ruins And Ashes" is excellent, the tracks are really solid, all factors for you to hear this release. Preview it/grab it below.

One good surprise and a name to keep in mind are Sun Of Nothing, an experimental metal band from Athens, Greece. This band grabs influences from several styles from sludge, doom, post-punk, post-rock to black metal. All entangled in a experimental and psychedelic web of sound called "The Guilt Of Feeling Alive". There are some good quality bands coming out of Greece lately, besides the reputation for quality black metal, other bands have been emerging from there, right now i can think of Dephosphorus and Mass Culture for example. The most interesting point here is that, with all of their influences, Sun Of Nothing, have managed to create a unique sound of their own, making this release one of the most interesting ones that has ever dropped into my mailbox. Serious.

As "The Guilt Of Feeling Alive" begins, we are immediately mesmerized with the opening track "Sink", whose notes wander through repetitive rhythms, always creating that feeling of expectation that something is really before us but at the same time seems to constantly escape. In the following tracks, our ears are assaulted by anguished cries that constantly haunts the tracks. "Catharsis", "Drowned Out", "Unreached Soul" and the abysmal closing "Hearthealer" are constant jumps into the unknown where we never know what to expect next. With five tracks only, "The Guilt Of Feeling Alive" lasts over 42 minutes and i guarantee you that every single minute, or second, is really worth it. Try it for yourself.
Preview it on the band's Bandcamp, just follow the link below. Follow their steps here.

Here is a split release many of you may know by now, but i really could not pass this one by too. A split between Dallas progressive post black metallers Cara Neir and New Hampshire's blackened stenchcore Ramlord. Beginning with Ramlord, to be honest, i'm still not into this band. I got to know them through their demo "Stench of Fallacy" and their sound really didn't hit me, maybe because due to the quality of the recording sound, i don't know. To me it's just another average band playing this hybrid style of crust/black metal. Nothing new here. Sorry Ramlord. Now Cara Neir i got to know them since the very interesting "Stagnant Perceptions" from last year. I know these guys got to pull some really cool reviews and good critics about this debut album. In this split you can expect the same kind of tracks as heard on "Stagnant Perceptions" although the sound production here is a lot better. Introducing a more cohesive and accurate sound. Cara Neir continues their legacy of this post black metal layered with some post rock/screamo influences as heard on "Family Dirge", but there's also room for some more, i dare say, death metal influences (as heard on "Wilted Blue"). Cara Neir absorbs a lot of influences making impossible for us to almost catalog them (in what fucking playlist on my iTunes, am i going to put these guys in???).

For those who love to collect tapes, i believe the split tape is still available on Broken Limbs Recordings, besides this one, they got a hand full of great releases there, check them out. Meanwhile check the Split on the link below. Download link courtesy of the band.

Taking a turn of 360º, from black metal to pure powerviolenced grindcore, here is the latest Cara Neir's EP: "Sublimation Therapy" EP. A blazing storm of 17 short bursts of the most ravenous grindcore i've heard in a few months, in a total of 22 and a half minutes. Interesting twist here. As expected, in terms of sound production, Cara Neir have done it again, thanks to Mr. Garry Brents. At first i was feeling a little distrustful about this but the more i hear it, the more i actually enjoy it. Clean and razor sharp riffs are fired shattering blast beats destroy everything around. Fans of bands like Graf Orlock, Defeatist or even Dephosphorus, please... put your ears and hands on this one. A must for contemporary grind fans.

Sabrewulf are a hardcore band from El Paso, Texas, they have a new EP out, basically made out of songs that originally were supposed to be on the demo released in November. Sabrewulf presents us a very muscled hardcore stuffed with some sludge or even some dark hardcore influences but always staying true to their hardcore roots. Following the same line of the demo "Prophecy", in "The Condemned" they present us three tracks that begin with some dark and haunting environmental intro setting the tone for the what's next, a furious discharge of some serious hate-fueled hardcore. Taking a look at the EP's artwork, and as i hear this "The Condemned" EP, it reminds me of some wicked character coming out of the twisted universe of Silent Hill. This band really bets on fabricating heavy and dense atmospheres making them really work along the tracks. So if you are into the heaviest and darker faction of hardcore i totally recommend this one to you. Download link below, generously given by the band.

Taste The Void, a fresh progressive/post-metal/post-hardcore band hailing from Nantes, France. As many bands coming from this country, right now i can think of a big part of the Throatruiner catalog (Calvaiire, Cowards, Comity, etc) or even Swarm of Nails (Arms of Ra, Nesseria, AsWeDraw, etc), Taste The Void easily fit in the same family tree of these bands. Produced by Amaury Sauvé (As We Draw, Birds In Row, Comity) the band presents us four tracks in "Sun's heat", opening with the ambitious "Monolith" where the band immediately throws the listener to the ground with this mechanism designed for them, consisting of slow but powerful riffs and drum beats. Music-wise it does not escape much from what we know coming from those countries, but in certain way it reminds me also that Nordic sound of bands like the legendary Breach or even Cult Of Luna due to the more atmospheric sections drawn here by the band. A very decent record that leaves the listener craving more. Buy it now for merely €0.40 ($0.52) or feel free to contribute with some more. If you want the album for free you can just use Google, which is something you do rather well right?

Anotherpromising new act, this time from the UK. Trudger are a fairly new progressive sludge metal band presenting, through their Bandcamp, three tracks of some serious heavyweight progressive sludge. Sound-wise, Trudger's sound fits in the same bag as bands like Collider, Old Man Gloom, Monolith or Moloken. Distilling large chunks of sludge that turns out to be well cut by the post-metal machine. Nevertheless although the amount here is small, we should not fail to watch this recording with extreme caution, because something great is coming on the horizon for this band. Pay attention to this. Stream or download the tracks, just follow the link below... you know the drill.

quarta-feira, 10 de outubro de 2012

"Perdition Discipline", the debut EP from Canada’s black metal horde Pestkreuz. Introducing four tracks, around 20 minutes in total, where they summon the ancient and demonic spirits of black metal. The ancient northern European influences are there, as well as some contemporary influences in Pestkreuz's sound. Chunks of buzzing and cutting riffs are continuously fired along "Perdition Discipline" filled with frenzy blast-beats. But there's also room for the most (un)orthodox punk faction of black metal on this release, making it one of the most interesting, solid and well achieved black metal EP's i had the pleasure to discover for this almost closing year. Satanism, Plague, Holy Death... we just can't get enough of it, right? Support the word of Horned One by achieving this EP here.

Damn.. this album title almost looks like a Red Sparowes song name. But no, nothing related at all. But i'm just gonna shoot into the dark and at least say that the band's name was taken from a Nick Cave & Bad Seeds famous track. "They Sang And Chanted For Hours, Then The Locked-in Hundreds Set Themselves Ablaze" is a damn fine album and Redrighthand, the sick maestro behind all of this pain and filth. Feeling almost as a bastard child of a relationship between Khanate and Monarch.

According to some sources, and to my regret, this band no longer exists. Members were in/went on to bands as Hard To Swallow, Narcosis, They Are Cowards, Charger, Ocksen, Like A Kind Of Matador and Gruel.

Although the lifetime of this beast was short, they left at least one brutal discharge of the most filthy and sick doom sludge coming out of old Britannia. Redrighthand's sound is dragged slow producing an atmosphere so thick, we can almost cut it with a knife. And the vocals are simply some of the most distressing i've heard into this genre, very Toadliquor style, very deep as if he is shouting from the deepest of catacombs, way behind the rest of the band. Although it was recorded in 2004, this is one of the best of what UK sludge/doom has to offer. A perfect distillation of fear and despair. Sick people, as me, into this sort of stuff... grab it here. Highly intense record. Recommended!

Here is another release i've been into a lot lately, canadian death metal band Abyss with their second demo entitled "The Reins Of Horror". One of the highlights of this band for me, is the fact it features among its ranks David, ex-vocals from Slaughter Strike. Slaughter Strike kicked ass and i was really bummed when they were over. So i guess Abyss comes to fill that hole. Abyss introduces some high quality death metal with a very crust punk stench all wrapped up in a very DIY ethic. "The Reins Of Horror" features nine tracks of raw, pummeling and vicious death metal. Bellow you can check out the two of Abyss demos. Don't be a douche and support these dudes. Buy the tape here.

terça-feira, 9 de outubro de 2012

And how about for a kick in your fucking teeth? That's right. Colorado's Ironhorse will kick the shit out of you with "Dragged Down A Dead End Path" an album that is all about one thing: Anger. As i started to play this album, i felt like i am immedeatly slapped in my face, but the deeper i get into it, something evil (even more) starts growing inside of me, making me just want destroy stuff around me.

Delivering a brutal mix of hardcore, sludge, crust, powerviolence or even grind, Ironhorse's formula is as powerful as a keg full of gunpowder about to blow. These boys are here to make a stand with this album, ten explosive tracks in 25 minutes... they mean serious business. Don't get in their way or they will slay you. Coming straight out of nowhere, "Dragged Down A Dead End Path" is a killer album. Play it loud and destroy! Listen in the link bellow and don't miss the chance to check them out live.

I was really caught by surprise when i saw the announcement of this split tape between my beloved Yellow Eyes, who last year released a masterpiece of what we might call a modern-avant-gard-new-wave of usbm, a really impressive debut. And on the other hand we have the mysterious Monvment, a very low-fi and raw black metal act that i know only from their Demo "I". This time both bands go a little bit further with their sound in this split tape. Monvment isn't as raw and low-li as in their demo and I also feel some small changes on Yellow Eyes sound, the voice isn't as strident as heard in "Silence Threads The Evening's Cloth", but the song structure follows the album's lineage. Nonetheless, a split release that is really worthy of your attention. Tape available for purchase here. Follow the link below to hear/buy/download/whatever you want to do with it.